Something is eating the leaves of my hostas, what can I use?
Question:I suspected snails and/or slugs but I have placed snail/slug killer (the pellet kind) and I am still seeing areas where part of the leaves are being eaten. Is there a spray that repels insects?
Answers:
I have the same problem. I use worry free slug n snail killer by lily miller. It's safe around kids and pets. The slugs eat the bait and it causes them to not be hungry and they starve. Since I live under the trees there is a never ending supply of the critters, I have to apply every 2 weeks or so and even this doesn't stop them completely but it cuts back enough so they look nice again. Trick is to get it out there when the hosta's first start to emerge, this is their weakest time and apparently their most delicious if you are a slug. I also turn on a spinning sprinkler on sunny days for a bit, it attracts robins that I think help eat the slugs.
pesticides
You can use pesticide.
If you don't want to, my mom used to spray her plants with soapy water to kill ants and other insects or at least to keep them off the plants. She claimed it worked.
I wouldn't spray the flowers, though.
AJAX27.. You're really an idiot, aren't you.
.
.
The deer are having quite the snack on my hosta leaves. Could they be the culprit ??
Here is my sure fire way to get the slugs. Get a can of cheap beer. Retain 1/3 of the beer in the can and put 1/3 of it in two more containers. Bury them around your hostas so that the top of the cans/cups are at ground level. The slugs love beer and die happy. If you don't catch slugs then my next guess at the cause would be rabbits; after that I would say japanese beetles.
Happy gardening.
salt!! salt works wonders for slugs...
i noticed that something was eating my leaves also... it could be those june beetles... caterpillars? do spiders eat greens? i found a spider nest folded under one of my leaves... the leaf was actually folded and webbed together. odd. they have this stuff at your hardware store... Tractor supply company... for the june beetles. they eat it, and carry it off... and somehow, next generations are already infected... and they die... and I'm not sure how it works... but it has to be the smaller beetle looking things, than those ones that fly into lights and fall on the ground, and cannot get back on their feet beetles... almost iridescent. ortho has this max defense spray to kill bugs... and i don't think it harms your plants.
seven brand plant spray,the bugs(any kind) will get to eat for a few minutes,then croak
If the holes are sort of random on a leaf, I'd suspect slugs. They like Hostas. Usually they are worse in the spring. I take a margarine or sour cream container and cut windows all around it about an inch from the bottom. Then, put some slug bait in it, pop the lid back on, and set it under the Hosta. The next day, I usually find slime trails leading to dead slugs, or dead slugs inside. If there are nosy cats around, it might be nice to put a rock on the container to keep a cat from spilling the slug bait out. I had my cat walk through slug bait once and then got really sick when it was cleaning the bait off it's feet.
I use a spray called Liquid Fence to keep critters like rabbits from eating my plants. It smells like rotten eggs and garlic right away when you spray it on but the smell goes away in a few minutes. I think it works really well, and it isn't made from harsh ingredients. You spray it on every few days at first to every few weeks and eventually the animals learn not to come near those plants so you don't have to hardly have to ever spray them after awhile. I believe that they also make a Liquid Fence spray for insects, but I am not 100% sure on that. I get it at Menards, but they also have it at garden centers around here at least.
More Related Questions & Answers...